


You And I, We're Pioneers

by BarnaboysWilloughby (SheriffsLop)



Category: The Willoughbys (2020)
Genre: Bullying, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Jane Willoughby and beauty standards, Jane cries a lot, Jane's topless in a scene, Nanny is a good mom, One Shot, Other, Platonic Kisses, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Short One Shot, Tim Willoughby Being A Good Brother, Tim doesn't know how to comfort girls but he's trying, beauty standards are wack, but it's not sexual, feel good fic, first attempt at the kids being kids, that's why it's rated 'teen'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28518351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheriffsLop/pseuds/BarnaboysWilloughby
Relationships: Barnaby A. Willoughby & Barnaby B. Willoughby (Brief), Jane Willoughby & Tim Willoughby, Linda | Nanny & Jane Willoughby, The Barnabys & Ruth (Brief), The Willoughby Siblings
Kudos: 9





	You And I, We're Pioneers

“ **_ They’re pious  _ ** **_ here . _ ** **_ . . _ ** ”

“Oh, tiny girlfriend, I’m so sorry to hear about what happened at school today,” Nanny apologized. “I promise you, if you give me your shirt and cardigan, I’ll have the tomato stains out by tomorrow morning. Do we have a  deal ? ”

Jane simply nodded in the back seat of the car. Today was awful, and that was saying a lot. She’d had bad days before. There were days back at the old Willoughby house that she wasn’t allowed to sing at all without both of her parents yelling at her to stop, days where she couldn’t dance without Tim grabbing her and making her  sit against the wall so she’d stop ‘stomping’. But today was truly horrible.

School hadn’t been a pleasant experience for the girl – she loved a lot of it, like the school library, music class, the swing sets, being able to see the  Barnabys for a few minutes at recess, but there was plenty of bad experiences that had made going to school dreadful for the poor girl. One of those experiences was Melissa  Schafter and the popular girl group.

Melissa was popular, no doubt about that, but it was because her grandpa was the principal of her school, so everyone wanted to be on her good side. It didn’t matter how hard some people tried to be nice to her, she was narcissistic and mean. She thought she was the prettiest girl in school, with her pretty, black hair, always curled or tied into a fishtail braid, and rosy red cheeks. People like Jane were girls that were made to be made fun of by Melissas.

They pulled around the factory, which was bursting with life as the work day wasn’t over yet and  Melanoff as well as his employee’s worked inside, where Nanny had led her inside. They were both a little late, because Jane took a moment in the guidance counselor’s office to cool off. She didn’t want to come home and face her family, and get asked how her day went, because she knew she’d burst into tears. They entered through the front door, where Ruth ran past them, towards the staircase, with a screwdriver.

“Ruthie, give that back !!” A. shouted.

“ Please ? We were using that !!” B. coaxed. “We’ll give you a Lickety Twist !!”

The small baby simply giggled and rolled it into one of the stair slots that lead to the glass caged wine cellar under the staircase. She let off a soft, innocent ‘Uh oh’ before she squealed and clapped her hands as both the twins gasped and peeked under the stairs.

“Mommy, she rolled our screwdriver into the wine cellar,” B. claimed.

“Can you get it for us ?” A. asked. “We were making another dirigible.”

“You got it, mushroom heads,” Nanny told them. “You go up to your room, Jane. Take off your shirt and I’ll come get it from you.”

“Why are you home late, Jane ?” A. inquired. “Did you get sent to the principal’s office over what happened at lu -”

“Hey, leave her alone right now,” Nanny warned. “She had it rough today and she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Jane bit her lips together as she went up to the second story of the house, and she walked down the hallway, before she saw that Tim’s door was open and he was currently working on one of the  assignment packets he had gotten from school on his bed.

They made brief eye contact before Jane felt her eyes start to water and she disappeared into her room. She slammed the door shut as she was greeted by her room, lavished with a white bedspread, pink pillows, sheer, pink curtains, and plenty of girl accessories to add to the girliness of her new room.

She unbuttoned her lilac - colored cardigan and set it on her vanity, before she pulled off the white polo styled blouse and set it on top. She loved that new outfit, because it was the first new  outfit she had finally got to pick for herself, and now it  sit on her vanity, soiled by lasagna sauce.

She took off the training bra she currently wore, because the fabric seemed to dig into her skin, but the rough material of the elastic edges never did well for the skin when they were soaked with sweat and sauce.

Jane took off her glasses and touched her face, as she squished her cheeks around. She felt chills up her spine as she heard the chanting echoes of the insults that Melissa and her friends threw at her constantly from day one of attending public school.

“Big - eared beak –  face !! Big – eared beak – face !!”

She touched her nose and felt a tingle at the realization that she looked like a flamingo that could be a cereal mascot. She had never noticed how far it stuck out, and it only seemed to stick out further as she touched her nose. It was like she was Pinocchio and her entire life was spent lying. She wanted to hide it, or cut it off for cosmos’ sake. Would she have been made fun of if her nose was smaller, and daintier like Melissa’s ?

She then noticed her ears, which she attempted to press back. 

She opened her vanity drawer and pulled out a set of kitty stickers that Tim had gotten her from the store when he had went shopping for more art supplies ( it was a bit irritating, since he only had brown, pink, and orange colored pencils and people had such varieties of different shades of skins ).

She peeled off one of the larger ones and stuck it onto her ear, before she attempted to connect her ear to her head. The stickers managed to stick for a few seconds before they popped off and her ears returned to their normal positions. She felt tears brim her eyes again at the thought of “Melissa’s right”.

She  **_ is  _ ** ugly.

She wiped her tears and hid her ears as there was a knock on her door, and Nanny came in.

“Hey, are you feeling  alright ? ” she asked.

Jane simply nodded, before she gave Nanny the shirt and cardigan.

Nanny held the shirt and cardigan out in front of herself and gave a soft ‘Hm’ of inquiry.

“I think some baking soda and lemon will do the trick,” she claimed. “I’ll get this washed really quick. I promise it’ll look good as new in no time.”

“Okay,” Jane sighed.

Nanny started to leave the room before she spoke again.

“And Jane, honey ?”

“Yes ?”

“Please put a shirt on, or at least lock your door. You’re a blossoming young lady, and your brothers – you get the idea, tiny girlfriend ?”

Jane looked down and covered her chest before she went and shut the door. She went to her bed and took off a fluffy, soft, throw blanket that she wrapped around her torso like a towel, before she sat back at her vanity and untucked her ears from behind her hair. She sighed as she looked in the mirror.

It was hopeless.

She couldn’t just magically get rid of her bird nose, or elephant ears.

She was always going to be ugly.

She got up from her vanity and opened her door, before she walked back down the stairs. She looked to see that Ruth was now in her highchair, eating ‘Tropical Puffs’ cereal, while the  Barnabys worked on another dirigible. Nanny was at the sink, with her phone on, as a soft, mellow R’n’B tune same from it that she hummed along to. Jane shook her head before she went outside and sat on the stairs to the porch and she looked out at the wheat fields, that blew gently in the wind.

She sighed as she curled her legs to her chest and sniffed. It was a hard pill to swallow, being ugly. No wonder she always sat alone. All the girls would want to sit with a pretty girl, Jane would only bring their image down. She shivered at the cool New York air as it settled upon her back.

She heard the front door open and she felt a twinge of annoyance, due to wanting to be left alone.

That’s when Tim sat down next to her and copied her sitting position. He’d become more open since they’d been adopted. He wanted to do more, go out more, talk to more people, he wanted to be around them more, because he finally got the chance to be the older brother and not the parent, which put him more at ease  ( though he was still a little spastic and neurotic, but blame it on his  nature ) . He tilted his head and looked at his sister.

“ Whatcha ’  doin ’ out  here ? ” he asked.

She sniffed and squinted, in an attempt to keep the fat blobs of tears from falling off her eyelashes.

“Being ugly,” she answered.

“Well, that’s a lie,” he teased. “That’s an impossible activity for you. So, what are you really doing ?”

She started to sniffle, before she buried her face into her knees and started to cry soft, whimpered, choked cries. Her grip on her knees was tighter and she dug her fingernails into her thighs.

“Hey, hey, what’s  wrong ? ” he asked.

Tim wasn’t used to seeing her cry. Ever since they were really little, Jane wasn’t a crier. She even knocked her first loose tooth out by falling down the stairs  ( and that’s when Tim figured she needed  glasses ) , and she didn’t cry, even though she bled all over the place. She simply held her tooth up and grinned at Tim, who freaked out over the streams of blood that dripped down her face.

He scooted closer to her, and he put his hand out, unsure if touching her would be the right move. He wasn’t quite sure of how to comfort anyone yet, especially a crying girl. He put his hands back down and let off a soft, confused ‘Hm’.

“You’re not ugly,” he repeated.

His tone was still rather meek, because he wasn’t sure of what to say in this position. He felt like this was maybe a job that Nanny should handle, but she was inside, working on Jane’s shirt, and he’d hate to be a bother to her. It seemed that he was stuck in this pickle.

“ **_ Yes, I am _ ** !!” she cried. “ **_ My nose looks like a flamingo beak and my ears look like elephan _ ** **_ t ears _ ** !!”

“Hey, _ you’re not ugly _ ,” he said.

He was firmer with his tone, which helped him gain the confidence to reach to her and pull her closer to him, to where their hips were touching, and she could very well lean on him if she needed to. His hand was around her shoulder and he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

“Who told you  that ? ” he asked.

“ _ Melissa at school, and all of her friends  _ !!” Jane whined. “ _ They’ve been calling me ‘big - eared beak – face' for months  _ _ now  _ !! _ My ears are big, and my nose is birdy  _ !!”

“Is she blind ?” Tim asked.

“ _ Wh _ _ \-  _ _ What _ ? ” she asked.

“ Uhm . . .” he paused for a minute. “I heard this analogy in my art class the other day, and I think it made sense;  Christmas lights and daisies aren’t the same thing,  right ? ”

She  hiccupped and shook her head as she looked at him.

“But they’re both pretty,” Tim insisted. “So, sure, you don’t look like that Melissa girl, and you never will. She’s like a daisy – she might be pretty to some people, and she might even be pretty to you, but you’re like Christmas lights. You’re  sparkly , full of life, and you’re something that people get so happy just looking at.”

She shook her head and started t cry again.

“ _ But nobody finds me pretty _ !!” she sobbed. “ **_ I’m ugly _ ** !!”

He grabbed her cheeks and turned her to face him, where their noses lightly touched. He squished her cheeks gently and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears, as she hiccupped and sniffled.

“You, Jane Florence Elizabeth Willoughby, are beautiful,” he claimed. “You are one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever met and nobody could ever change that for me. You will always be one of the most beautiful girls I know, because your beauty shines all the way through.”

She sniffed and hiccupped again as tears fell from her eyes and she started to cry again, but for a new reason. The sound of hearing that she wasn’t just pretty, but beautiful, said out loud – it was enough to fill her chest with an overwhelming air of appreciation. Her heart felt like it was beating fast, and she wriggled out of Tim’s arms and wrapped him in a hug. 

He was taken back by this sudden hug. He still wasn’t quite used to them just yet, but he made sure to return it, because obviously, it was what she needed in that moment, and he was the one there. He felt a smile come to his face and he shut his eyes as he felt a warmth. It was nice to say her name and tell her that she was pretty, because, in his eyes, she is. She was pretty back in the old Willoughby house, and she’d only gotten prettier since they’d been adopted. It was like, every day, she grew to be even more beautiful, and he was a bit surprised nobody else had gotten around to telling her.

He was pretty happy that he was the first one to do so.

His finger were gentle on her bare shoulders as he allowed her to hug onto him.

This was nice.

He let off a happy little hum as she squeezed her body against his.

“Thank you . . .” she whispered. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me,” he laughed. “I’m just telling the truth.”

She smiled and squeezed him a bit tighter, keeping her eyes closed as she simply took in his scent. He smelled like the deodorant that Nanny and  Melanoff had bought him, and the smell of wool from the  sweatervests upon  sweatervests he had lingered upon him. It was a comforting smell, a familiar smell.

He simply planted a kiss upon her temple and squeezed her a bit tighter too. His fingers grazed in her hair, which was soft, and smelled of vanilla and sugar from the girly shampoo in their shower, but it seemed she would forever have a hint of lavender upon her, like she did back at the old Willoughby house. It was like things were changing, but some things would always be persistent and consistent, like how she smelled of lavender and still sang, but now she started to find interest in fashion and pink, fluffy things.

There would always be one thing that he knew would never change.

Jane Willoughby was a beautiful female, because her beauty radiated from her stupendous personality, all the way to the outside.

There could be nothing that would change Tim’s mind from that.

“ **_ But you and I, we’re pioneers . . . _ ** ”

\- “ **_ Wild Things _ ** ”, Alessia Cara


End file.
